


the bookstore

by allp_wips



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-07-19 06:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19969402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allp_wips/pseuds/allp_wips





	the bookstore

Astra doesn't know why she takes the job at the bookstore, when she returns from deployment. Rao knows the owner doesn't pay her what the living wage in Argo is, let alone the going rate for the profession. He leaves her alone as long as she does the job, though, and she has enough money left over from her father's estate, and salary saved up from the Fleet, to ensure that she can survive, albeit by living at a lower standard than she's used to.

The real reason, of course, is that it's a bookstore. More specifically, it's one of the few bookstores left in Kandor that offers non-digital stock, from various planets and even galaxies. And Kara is a bookworm. Kara is a bookworm, and she happens to love reading and talking about every other planet and galaxy known to Kryptonian explorers. Ever since the Zor-El family had banned Astra from setting foot anywhere near their premises, she's been plotting a way to reunite with her niece again, in a setting where they wouldn't be found out. The bookstore, with its adjoining tea shop, is the most natural place for her young niece to frequent, without drawing the attention of her overzealous family.

\---

Kara, for all her bubbly nature, knows how to keep a secret as well as anyone else that Astra has ever met. She comes over on the third evening of every week to spend her day in the bookstore, stealing a table to herself at the tea shop, and doing her take home work from the pre-guild seminars. Even at the age of thirteen, she's already mastered the level of mathematics required for the guild entrance examination, but Astra notices that she seems to be struggling with her literature courses, oddly enough.

Astra doesn't do much in the way of helping, other than dropping fresh tea and food on the table, every once in a while, but just having her around seems to help Kara focus on her work.

"Mother asked me why I'm suddenly managing to get all my homework done without the tutors badgering me," Kara says one day, looking up from a book she's reading, just as Astra replaces the lukewarm tea on her desk with a steaming hot mug.

Astra freezes.

"What did you say, Little One?" she asks.

She hasn't explicitly asked Kara to lie for her, knowing that that would be going on step too far. On the other hand, Kara had been perceptive even as a young child, and she seems to have understood that it's an unbreachable rift that has sprung up between her mother and her aunt, ever since Astra had turned her back on her assigned guild.

"I just told her I've got a study buddy," Kara says, shrugging.

Astra breathes out, not sure if she's relieved or more worried. "Kara..."

"It's true!" Kara protests, and then proceeds to stuff her face with the pastry that Astra had laid down. "Mfmgh wis is wood."

Astra shakes her head, and lets her get back to her reading, wondering if this plan is going to backfire, somehow.

\---

The human starts frequenting the bookstore in the late summer of that year.

That by alone isn't a surprise, not really. The intergalactic embassies reopen around that time, and the bookstore is the sort of place that such officials feel secure in frequenting. Really, the human shouldn't have caught Astra's attention at all, anymore than the other species that amble around the place, sampling the tea and reading the various books on display.

Still, she does.

To begin with, she doesn't seem interested in any of the books on offer, not even the carefully curated magazines that Astra leaves on every table in the tea shop. She simply buys some token food item from the tea shop every evening, secures a table in an isolated corner, and then leaves late at night, with the item left behind uneaten. To add insult to injury, she drinks her own tea that she brings in with a thermos, as if the offerings of the tea shop are of no interest to her.

Astra endures it for a week, before finally going over and putting a mug down on her desk. The woman looks up from the binder she's leafing through, startled.

"Here," Astra says, in English.

Her patron blinks, and replies in Kryptonese, albeit the formal dialect. "I didn't order any-"

"It's on the house," Astra tells her. "It's proper tea. I thought you would prefer to know the difference."

Alex Danvers - Astra can read the badge on her uniform - frowns, but takes the mug without further complaint.

"Why do you never eat the food you order?"

Alex glances guiltily at the pastry left untouched on her desk.

"I don't like sweets this late in the day," she says.

"They why are you here?" Astra demands.

"To be left alone," Alex says,staring pointedly at her. "I've had a long day."

Astra stares at her, and is about to reply, but just then a customer lines up at the counter, and she has to go back.

\---

Kara loves the new human. Astra suspects it partly has to do with the fact that, out of all the diplomats that frequent the tea shop in the evenings, Alex is the only one willing to listen to her, and answer her inquisitive barrage of questions. Alex, on the other hand, seems patient with Kara, answering even the most inane of them, albeit sometimes with a horrified look, or an amused smile.

"Why do you spend all your evenings alone? Don't you have any friends at the Earth embassy?"

"I've heard of how good your traditional Earth dishes are. Have you ever eaten a Big Belly Burger?"

"How did a scientist get hired to be a diplomat?"

"Can I have that pastry, if you're not going to eat it?"

"Is it true that everyone in America walks around with a gun and that the standard greeting is 'yeehaw'?"

Astra doesn't often get the chance to stick around and hear the answers to these questions, so she gauges Alex's reaction from a distance by the emotions that flit across her face as she answers them. Her usually grave face turns to be quite expressive, betray an interesting range of responses, depending on how outrageous Kara's question of the moment is. Once or twice, she looks in Astra's direction for help. Astra simply shrugs back, amused, each time.

Still, she feels her annoyance at the isolationist human disappearing over time, when she notices how patient and indulging she is of Kara. Surely, she can't be all that bad.

\---

"Father thinks I'm spending too much time with Alex," Kara says one evening, when Kara joins her at her usual desk during a lull in the store.

Astra glances around the store, noting that Alex hasn't arrived yet, before turning back to Kara.

"What do you mean, Little One?"

Kara looks morose. "I asked him if I could invite her to lunch with us the next holiday, but he said no, and that maybe I shouldn't be associating so much with a human."

Astra considers it. She has her reservations about humanity as a whole - what they've done to their planet is a reflection of their values, even if they choose not to see that - but Alex in particular is hardly a cause for worry.

"Did he forbid you outright from befriending her?"

Kara wrinkles her nose. "No. He just looks really anxious about it, every time I bring her up."

"Zor is a worrywart," Astra murmurs. He wagers he'll get over it soon enough; her brother-in-law is slow to change, but he generally accepts it in the end. "You can still see her here, little one. If you want, you can visit next holiday, and we can have our own gathering here."

"But, you'll be closed that day," Kara says.

Astra raises her eyebrows comically high. "I might be persuaded to open it up for my favorite niece."

Kara giggles. "I'm your only niece."

"The point still stands," Astra says, and begins planning.

\---

Alex seems strangely touched, when Astra approaches her the next evening to invite her to the shop for the holiday.

"Thank you," she murmurs.

"The food will be exclusively sweets," Astra continues, grave-faced. "You'll have to bring your own tea, too, I'm afraid."

That gets a rare smile out of Alex. Astra notices that she's reading a proper book this time, not one of the binders she's usually leafing through. Astra recognizes the brightly colored cover. It's the first in a series of adventure books that Kara loves.

"That's not your usual fare," Astra says.

Alex snaps the book shut so quickly that Astra wonders if she's embarrassed of reading a children's book.

"Kara said I would like it," Alex says, flushing a little.

"And do you?"

"It's alright," Alex says, flushing even harder. "I mean, it's no Harry Potter, but it's alright."

"I don't know what a Harry Potter is."

"I could bring you the first book next time, if you like," Alex says, rubbing her neck. For some reason, she seems even redder. "Although, maybe you're not into that kind of stuff."

Astra smiles."You're an odd woman, Alex Danvers. I'll try your book."

She sets down the usual-by-now mug of tea and snack on the desk, and walks away to help a patron at the counter, ignoring Alex's protests at the offering as usual.

\---

Astra has to have a little fight with the owner in order to keep the bookstore open for Alex and Kara on the holiday, but she wins in the end. It's mostly owing to the fact that the owner likes to travel around, and Astra is the only one willing to man the shop for such long hours for such little pay, but she's learned to take the little victories. Especially if it means having her niece to herself for a whole day, instead of snatching a few hours here and there in the evening.

She feels oddly nervous, though, when the day comes. Astra is not in the habit of lying to herself; she knows well enough that her nerves have nothing to do with Kara, and everything to do with the fact that Alex will be joining them too.

It turns out that she has nothing to worry about. The food she cooks - a proper meal this time - doesn't mysteriously turn to garbage when they sit down to eat, and Alex doesn't complain about it. She certainly seems to enjoy it more than the pastries that Astra had tried to foist on her before.

"Thank you," Alex murmurs to her, during a quiet space of time, after they've finished their meal and Kara is too occupied with watching a video.

Astra turns to her, a little surprised.

"What for?" she asks, just as quietly.

"For this," Alex says. She raises her hand. It seems to shake in the air for a moment, suspended, before she lays it on Astra's arm. She sneaks a furtive look at Kara to make sure she's still otherwise occupied, before she continues. "I don't really know many people around here, and it's been harder than I thought it would be to cope with that. So, thanks for asking me."

Astra stares at the point of contact, from which goosebumps are erupting. She draws a content breath.

"You're welcome, Alex."

They laze around in the couches even after every last morsel of food is finished, none of them eager to leave. Eventually, though, Astra lifts her head and studies the time stamp on the video playing in the background, realizing that Alura is due from the courts soon.

"Little one," she says, prodding Kara, "Time for you to go home."

"But I'm sleepy," Kara protests, shifting just enough away from Astra to evade the reach of her arm.

"You can sleep at home," Astra says, getting up and tugging at her again. "You wouldn't want your mother to come down here looking for you, would you?"

Once Astra chivvies her off the couch, though, Kara runs down the stairs and out the front door with her usual speed. It's Alex who lingers behind, when she would generally make a quick and unceremonious exit. 

"Um," she says, turning back to Astra. Then, she seems to change her mind. "Good bye."

Something occurs to Astra.

"Alex, wait."

Alex turns back, looking eager. That expression is soon wiped off her face, as Astra moves away and returns from the counter with an old book.

"Harry Potter," Astra says. "Thank you for lending it to me."

"Oh," Alex says. She seems disappointed.

"I enjoyed it," Astra offers, wondering if that's what she wants to hear from her.

Alex takes the book back, and seems on the verge of saying something, when they're interrupted.

"I have to go soooon", Kara sings out, from outside.

"Not so fast," Astra calls back. "It's too late in the evening; I'll get someone to fly you."

"I'll take her," Alex says.

Astra hesitates, looking between her niece and Alex, but Kara makes the decision for them both by running out in the direction of Alex's flyer. "I get shotgun!"

Astra exhales. "I suppose that's fine, then."

"She knows what she wants," Alex says.

She turns back to Astra. She's dressed in her usual jacket and trousers, with the addition of a scarf to ward off the evening cold, which Astra notices is currently being pulverized in her hands instead.

"What is it?" Astra asks.

Alex looks up at her, then back down at her hands, and then back up at Astra.

"I don't want to tell Kara this just yet," she says, "But, I have to go back next month. To Earth, I mean, to see if they want to send me back for the next year."

Astra blinks, and tries to push past the sudden stone that seems to be sitting in her chest. "Oh."

Alex nods, and looks away from Astra again.

"There's something else," she says.

"Yes?" Astra inflects it as a question.

"Itwasyou." The words come out of Alex in a rush, so that they stumble over each other.

"What?" Astra asks.

"The reason I kept coming here," Alex says, impatiently. "It was you!"

Astra stares at a point somewhere above Alex' s head. "Me?"

Alex flushes red. "Yes, you. Shut up!"

"I said nothing," Astra says,smiling.

Alex sighs. "This is not how I pictured this conversation going."

Astra steps closer, takes away the scarf that Alex is twisting around and around in her hands, and curls it around Alex's neck instead. That seems to stop Alex from fidgeting, and she exhales deeply.

"I saw you, the first time I came in," she says. "It was a slow day, and you were leaning by the counter reading a book, and I should have just come up and said something about it, started a proper conversation. Instead, I just sat around in a corner and stared at you."

"If it helps, I was clearly staring back at you every day after that," Astra says, reaching up to stroke Alex's cheeks with her fingers.

Alex smiles, looking less self-conscious. "Really?"

Not wasting her breath on a reply, Astra leans forward. She trails her fingers down Alex's jaw for just enough moments to give her warning of what she's about to do, before her mouth closes over Alex's own. She swallows the first small sound of surprise, and then Alex is kissing her back just as strongly, her fingers undoing Astra's hair tie and tangling in her hair. She kisses Astra like there's nothing else in the world she'd rather do, pressing insistently against her and making soft sounds against her mouth that leave Astra reeling.

They separate briefly for air, before their mouths find their way back to each other, only to be interrupted by-

"What are you guys doing?" Kara calls out, from outside.

Her tone is mischievous, as if she knows exactly the answer to the question she's asking, and is asking it anyway on purpose, but Astra and Alex still jump back from each other.

"I have to go," Alex breathes out.

Astra nods. "Alright, goodbye."

"Well, see you," Alex says unnecessarily, still sounding breathy.

She flashes Astra her rare, gorgeous smile, and then she's out the door and skipping down the stairs after Kara, scooping up the girl mid-run with one arm despite giggled protests, and carrying her the rest of the way to the flier. Astra watches them fly off, until they're mere specks in the distance, smiling and wondering at this little slice of perfection life has unexpectedly thrown at her, after she'd long given up on it.

\---


End file.
